Difficulty naming 432e5d

The purpose of difficulty naming is to inform players how difficult a map is. This article lists common conventions as well as other alternatives that have been gathered throughout the years. However, as long as the set of difficulty names is descriptive and clearly indicates progression of difficulty, you may use any desired kind of scheme. 1w383h

Default 696036

These difficulty names are the most commonly used for each game mode.

Note: The special difficulty name Marathon historically allowed mappers to submit maps of longer songs, and thus became popular for single-difficulty mapsets. Today, the name has no special meaning and is typically only used for very long songs or song compilations.

osu! 3l1e6s

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane
• Expert

osu!taiko 6t1m

• Kantan
• Futsuu
• Muzukashii
• Oni
• Inner Oni / Ura Oni

osu!catch 1y27

• Cup
• Salad
• Platter
• Rain
• Overdose

osu!mania 39115

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane
• Expert

Widely accepted alternatives 4u5y2u

• Beginner: Below Easy
• Shokyuu: Below Kantan
• Advanced: Between Normal and Hard
• Hyper: Between Hard and Insane
• Extra: Alternative to Expert
• Extreme: Above Expert
• Hell Oni: Above Inner Oni / Ura Oni
• Deluge: Above Overdose

Difficulty naming schemes from other games 6f18y

Mapsets of songs that originated from other games often borrow that game's difficulty naming scheme. Usage of these difficulty names is acceptable for any song. Some of the common naming schemes that made their way into osu! are listed here:

Beatmania IIDX g292a

• Beginner
• Normal
• Hyper
• Another
• Black Another
• Leggendaria

DanceDanceRevolution 602u3o

• Beginner
• Basic
• Difficult
• Expert
• Challenge

DJMAX 45683d

• EZ
• NM
• HD
• MX
• SC

EZ2DJ, EZ2AC 5l154z

• EZ
• NM
• HD
• SHD
• EX

In The Groove 1b6b1r

• Novice
• Easy
• Medium
• Hard
• Expert

Pop'n Music 5d56v

• Easy
• Normal
• Hyper
• EX

SOUND VOLTEX 2v5r63

Note: Large mapsets of SOUND VOLTEX songs often use difficulty names from multiple versions of the game, even if the song does not appear in all of them.

• BASIC / BSC
• NOVICE / NOV
• ADVANCED / ADV
• EXHAUST / EXH

SOUND VOLTEX II -infinite infection- 632f5w

• INFINITE / INF

SOUND VOLTEX III GRAVITY WARS b2r42

• GRAVITY / GRV

SOUND VOLTEX IV HEAVENLY HAVEN 762v

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• HEAVENLY / HVN

SOUND VOLTEX VIVID WAVE 51v5k

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• VIVID / VVD

SOUND VOLTEX EXCEED GEAR 58451q

• MAXIMUM / MXM
• EXCEED / XCD

Arcaea 533s4q

• Past
• Present
• Future
• Eternal
• Beyond

Lanota 636s61

• Whisper
• Acoustic
• Ultra
• Master

maimai, CHUNITHM, Ongeki 70546u

• EASY
• BASIC
• ADVANCED
• EXPERT
• MASTER

maimai 2u1916

• Re:MASTER

CHUNITHM e6z66

• ULTIMA / WORLD'S END

Ongeki 3zz1l

• LUNATIC

Cytus, Deemo, VOEZ 6zs31

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Insane

Cytus 235013

• Chaos
• Glitch / Crash

Deemo 92v32

• Extra

VOEZ 421m6i

• Special

Touhou Project 5x4r4g

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Lunatic
• Extra / Extra Stage / Phantasm